30 Quotes by Jón Kalman Stefánsson

We cry because language is imperfect and fails to reach all the way down to the bottom-most depths of life, not even halfway down into the deepest charms, our tears begin where our words stop, are they messages from the abyss, the unspoiled depths?

The most burdensome thing is not to know how to live, to know the notes but to be unable to sing them.

What are you, life? Perhaps the answer is found in the question, the wonder that is implicit in it. Does the light of life dwindle and turn to darkness as soon as we stop wondering, stop questioning, and take life like every other commonplace thing?

Le lacrime sono fatte come remi, il dolore e la tristezza vogano. Chi piange a un funerale, piange nondimeno la propria morte e quella del mondo, perché tutto muore e alla fine non resta niente.- Luce d'estate ed è subito notte

A Norðfjörður rövid fjord, alig egy habozásnyi, viszont ezer méternél is magasabb hegyek veszik körül, némelyikük pereme borotvaéles, és hasadékaik kiáltáshoz hasonlatosak.

sehol másutt nem mértek nagyobb távolságot ég és föld között.

Erano i tardi anni Ottanta, a breve sarebbe crollato il muro di Berlino e i pezzi sarebbero stati venduti come souvenir, l'essere umano ha la capacità straordinaria di convertire le minacce, la morte e la disperazione in denaro sonante.

تشمخ الجبال فوق الحياة والموت، وهذه البيوت المتلاصقة على اللسان الساحلي. نحن نعيش في قاع تجويف، يمر الصباح ،يتحول الى مساء، تغمره سكينة العتمة، تتوهج النجوم. نجوم تتألق الى الأبد فوقنا كما لو أن لديها رسالة عاجلة، إنما أي رسالة وممن؟ ماذا تريد منا، او لعل الأهم ربما ،ماذا نريد نحن منها؟

There can be such a gulf between one’s exterior and interior lives, and this should tell us something, it should teach us not to trust appearances too much; he who does so misses the essence.